Hi everyone,

I have 2 German Shepherds, one is 5, the other 2.
Four months ago I gave birth to my son. I was incredibly worried about how the dogs would react to a baby in the home. I must admit, I didn't socialize them with children as much as I should have. My entire pregnancy was filled with anxiety, I feared I might have to rehome my dogs. When my son arrived we took things very slow. The dogs were kept seperated from the baby at all times for the first 2 weeks. After I felt more comfortable, I introduced our older shepherd to our son. I was pleasently suprised when she came up slowly, sniffed him, then laid down next to me. She was completely indifferent to the baby, her body language was very relaxed. It was as if he had always been with us. For the past 4 months she has been nothing short of amazng with our son. I couldn't be more proud/happy.

That just left one more dog....

Our male GSD is very different from our female. He is a well bred working line dog. Very high drive, full of himself and young too. He's a great dog, everything I wanted in a shepherd, but not exactly what one thinks of when they picture a family dog. He's well trained and listens to OB commands like a true pro, always brimming with enthusiasm. He's not a fan of strangers at all and must be under a command when strangers or guests are present. If he's been issued a command, he's fine around people, but you can tell he's not enjoying himself and waiting to 'have a reason', so to speak. With the family he's a sweet and gentle dog, very goofy and affectionate.

I was worried that he would see the baby as a stranger or intruder. I stressed about this day and night. Because of my fears, I kept him seperated from the baby for 2 months before introducing them. When I did finally let them meet, it was through the playpen and our dog was on leash. He didn't seem very interested at first, which was a good thing. for the following month I let them get to know eachother through the playpen. At around the 3rd month, I picked up the baby and let him sniff. I then put him in a down stay and began walking around the house with my son. He didn't seem to care too much. We kept slowly introducing them and I'm proud to say they get along just fine. My GSD actually really likes the baby. He lays next to him in his chair, kisses his feet, and brings him toys (we're working on stopping that) When my son cries, our GSD will "come get me", with a very concerned look on his face. He's so gentle with him and very sweet. It's almost as if he knows my son is just a little baby. He treats him as a member of our family. I'm so happy everything worked out for us. So many people kept looking at me like I was INSANE for even thinking about introducing my "German Shepherds" to a small child, simply because of their breed. We sure showed them!!


I decided to post this thread to hopefully help moms-to-be relieve some stress when they think of introducing their GSD to the new baby. It isn't impossible, just be patient don't rush things and try to remain optimistic. If you feel uncomfortable with your dogs reaction for ANY reason(even if others think everything is ok), stop the session. Do not endanger your child or dog because you want to speed things up. While you're pregnant work on OB with your dogs every day. Train them not to touch the baby's things or go into his room. If they're allowed on the furniture, train them to keep off unless invited. Practice the "wait" command, as it may prevent your baby from serious injury (our male is ga-ga over playing with toys, so we trained him to stop dead in his tracks if told to, we also taught him to always wait for us if a toy rolls under the baby's playpen or bassinet).

Good luck and Congratulations to all the new moms and 'moms to be'.



P.S. Does anyone have any advice as to how to stop him from licking the baby? Every time my sons feet are exposed, our dog starts to lick them. Not frantically or anything alarming, but it's kind of gross. I've been leary about correcting him as I don't want him to start associating the baby with a correction.

He also keeps bringing the baby his toys. I'm ok with that, but sometimes he'll actually put them on the baby, which is also very gross. Any tips as to how I can stop these two things without damaging their relationship would be great.

Teach him to leave it. It doesnt matter if its the babies feet or anything else. Leave it is general purpose for stop what you are doing.

The baby is so soft, so full of smells of food, of milk and stool, it wiggles when you lick it. Even a really great dog can make a bad mistake.
Take care!

I both love and hate the idea of babies and dogs. It is SOOOO much work! I am so glad to not have small kids anymore....in a totally love my kids and selfishly love my dogs way....and am loving my teenagers.

I grew up with dogs and got bitten more than a few times. (teasing my dear grands mini schnauzer who was a small dog in lap dog....not gauging the length of the chain the airedale was tethered too...)

My own kids were born into a family with an ancient poodle, a Border Collie and a BeagleXBoxer goofball and a Westie. Soon after the death of the BeagleXBoxer we got two bullmastiffs (and anything bad about getting two pups at once is true... and I would NEVER go there again!)...who after a great deal of work they were really great dogs. Never were kids and dogs alone together. NEVER was anything not totally supervised. I don't know where I got the energy to do it. Thankfully the BMFs were laid back puppies and fast learners.

An aside and keeping with the thread subject....the BC that my kids grew with was a 2 yr old when I moved out west to go to college. Single with two dogs and working my way through college I moved into a basement room in a friends family. They had three little girls at the time. One was just crawling. Nan, the BC was very patient with them and saw them as food dispensers and tennis ball throwers. She also chewed EVERYTHING they owned and I bought them a lot of replacement stuff. I was a poor college student and didnt't know about crates yet. One day I came home to "Guess what Nan did today?" and I thought, what do I need to replace now, only to be reassured that it was a good thing.
Seems the neglectful dad (he left them the next year) came home and left the door ajar. The infant crawled out into the yard and then the road. Nan followed. All my dogs are boundary trained and Nan was a doll about NOT entering the road or leaving the yard EVER. The baby crawled into the road, two blocks from a four lane and at dusk. Nan realized something and for whatever reason you care to give she followed the infant til it got into the road. Then she circled her, barking, knocking her back each time the baby tried to crawl further into the road. A neighbor yelled for the mom and said, the baby was in the road, but the dog would not let anyone near her. The baby sat crying in anger at Nan and Nan circled barking.....her wide white ruff was all the drivers could see in the dark and the only reason the baby wasn't killed. She only let the mom near the baby.
Nan lived to nearly 15yrs old and raised my bullmastiff pups, and my kids for a few short years.

Wow! great story!!!

Awesome story!

I see some videos and think "Awwww... I want to have a baby for my dog!"


Then I remember that I really don't want a baby.

Wow…I too agree, great story!

Bianca
You have obviously done an excellent job training and preparing before baby arrived, and then supervising your dogs with your baby. Good Mom.

Bianca,
I found that constant supervision and redirecting helped with lickers, like playing with the wrong article. Also, at least if he is bringing toys to the baby he is likely seeing him as a family member and not some alien thing hogging his time. Nan left soggy tennis balls everywhere......kinda realigns your grossness factor.

Next huge step is when your baby becomes independently mobile. Some dogs deal just fine with the invasion and some lose it. We worked with the dogs and kids as soon as the kids could tell the dog to sit or lay down clearly and had them 'command' the dog before a meal or a treat.(obviously with us as total backup) I think it helped the dogs smoothly transition into toddlerdom and all the invasions that came with it. I just leave that note since I know a lot of folks that think if the dog is fine with an infant they are fine......mobility changes all preceptions. My dogs learned GENTLE...and toned down behaviors. Especially our rather raucous Bullmastiff bitch, Lunk, who barreled through life. She knew if a baby was involved it meant tiptoe and calm.

Sounds like you are doing a great job. Good luck with the energy level.